Funding for new classes falls short of CAQ promise
QUEBEC The new Coalition Avenir Québec government has made education its top priority, but Finance Minister Eric Girard said Thursday the government must pace itself to meet all its election promises in that domain.
The 2019 budget sets aside a modest $230 million in new education funding, including $36 million to create 250 new four-year-old kindergarten classes.
The 250 classes is far short of the CAQ promise to build 5,000 classrooms that would provide an early education program free of charge for parents.
When asked how many pre-kindergarten classes would be created over the course of the CAQ’s fouryear-mandate, Treasury Board president Christian Dubé did not commit to a figure, saying it would depend on how many parents choose to enrol their children in the program.
“You have to understand that it can vary,” he told journalists on Thursday. “For this year, what we think is realistic is to have 250 classes, and we’ll make adjustments if necessary.”
Pierre-Antoine Harvey, an economist with the Conseil des syndicats du Québec, which represents thousands of teachers in the province, said the $230 million in new spending in education amounts to mere crumbs in a system that needs a major injection of public funds.
“Education is supposed to be the top priority, but we’re not convinced by this budget,” said Harvey, who called the CAQ budget “disappointing.”
He said with more than 2,000 primary schools, and 1,000 high schools, it will take the government at least its entire mandate for the new measures to be implemented in all schools.
“This is far from what (Girard) could have done if education was really his priority,” Harvey said.
He said the greatest problem in the education sector is a shortage of staff, with one in five young teachers leaving the profession after five years, and the budget does little to address that.
Liberal finance critic Carlos Leitão pounced at the government’s commitment to create just 250 pre-kindergarten classes, saying the government appears to be backing away from one of its principal election promises.
“At this rate, it will take at least two mandates to complete the program,” Leitão said. “They are going slowly because it’s complicated to put in place, but that was their big election promise.”
He added that the government would actually be wise to revisit the usefulness of a pre-kindergarten program when there are many more pressing needs in the education sector.
“Among school boards, teachers’ unions, parents’ associations and everybody, there is a consensus over the need to maintain the current services properly funded before adding new programs,” Leitão said.
Harvey agreed, saying the pre-kindergarten program is a solution in search of a problem.
“The fact is that a majority of parents are very happy with the existing daycare program,” he said.
However, Sylvain Mallette, the president of the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement, which represents 43,000 teachers, said he was happy to see the government commit funding to a fouryear-old kindergarten program.
“For us, we’re very happy that the government is targeting lower-income families with this measure,” he said, adding that children of families with lower means are generally at a disadvantage when kindergarten starts because they are not enrolled in daycare. “We want to make sure that the government can commit the resources to the program so the 250 classes will be a success.”